Weekend Interview: Kim Crow of Rowing Australia on Radio Sport National

The above interview with Australia's Kim Crow (who took silver in the W2x with Kerry Hore, behind Anna Watkins and Katherine Grainger of Team GB) provides a great deal of insight into selection and training with Rowing Australia, her recent win at the New South Wales State Championships in the double, racing experience and gearing up for the Games, and the changes coming for the Boat Race–scheduled to become 'the Boat Races' in 2015, with the women's event joining the men's on the Tideway in London. Crow's discussion of the athletes and training system in Australia is particularly interesting, and emphasizes the long-term nature of athletic commitment to Olympic sport there (she mentions that it is fairly common for athletes to take a year off following an Olympic cycle before beginning in earnest for the next Games, while in the U.S. the turnover tends to me much higher).

On the men's side, Rowing New Zealand's national trials are fast approaching, and Eric Murray of the Kiwi Pair has elected to do another 2k test–this time it will be on a standard erg (his last test of 5:41 was posted on a Dynamic). His goal? 5:40.

-RR

Sneak Peek: Rowing News 19-2 Goes to Press!

The Dawg Pound (Photo: B. Kitch) 

The second issue of the 2012 campaign for Rowing News is on its way. This issue features coverage of the C.R.A.S.H.-B. Sprints, with a series of short interviews with the top performers last Sunday (including Rose City Rowing Club phenom Ruth Narode, outstanding Grand Valley State novice Nate Biolchini, who posted a 6:06.3 despite having started in the sport just five months ago, and two-time Olympian Greg Ruckman, among many others). We also checked in with Danish lightweight world record holder Henrik Stephansen on this plans for 2012, caught up with CRI's Matt Zatorski about the 2012 'What Works' Summit (which featured appearances by Bob Ernst of UW, and German Rowing Federation head coach Hartmut Buschbacher), and spoke with Boston University's Tom Bohrer about how to develop mid-season racing technique after a winter off the water. Add to this our features on the amazing health benefits of adaptive rowing, and an inside look at the University of Washington men's program (including an interview with coaches Michael Callahan and Luke McGee), along with cover girl Susan Francia's interview, and you'll be off to a great start for spring racing season.

-RR

The Boustead Cup, 2012: London RC Takes Top Honors in Traditional Clash with Thames

The Boustead Cup (Photo: © Iain Weir)

The 2012 Boustead Cup race between London Rowing Club and Thames Rowing Club took place on Saturday, 18 February on the Championship Course in London (from Chiswick to Putney). The race, which mirrors the Boat Race in terms of its duration and head-to-head nature, is one of the yearly fixtures on the Tideway. The following is a race report by RR London Correspondent, Theo Bakker, who followed the races from the launch. The photographs are courtesy of Iain Weir.

From RowingRelated London Correspondent Theo Bakker:

For London Rowing Club, the Boustead Cup of 2012 was all about the “pride of the badge,” and, “putting the club on show,” according to coach Phil Bourguignon. His pre-race talk summed up the day completely, and emphasised the traditional competitiveness between the two clubs undertaking the race–Thames and London. He emphasised to the crews the importance of getting the bow-ball in front off the start and how the race “[would be a] battle of wits and mental toughness.” The extremely competitive nature of the race, which has been a tradition between the two clubs since 1947, was underscored by Bourguignon’s attitude as the race approached.

Bourguignon addresses the LRC rowers (Photo: © Iain Weir)

First to go down the course from Chiswick to Putney were the third eights. According to the London Rowing Club cox, Tim Jackson, the crew raced in a “mature manner.” They stuck to the plan and settled in what turned out to be a “beautiful rhythm.” Prior to the race, I spoke to coach Mark Ruscoe during a training session with this crew. Ruscoe said that the basic club programme consists of ten sessions a week, most of which are mostly on the water, but this is affected by varying work responsibilities, so the training schedule is not rigid. Despite this, London showed its depth, pushing through and winning the race comfortably.

Opening stretch, Chiswick to Barnes (Photo: © Iain Weir)

The second eights race was a much closer one, neck and neck all the way to Hammersmith, until the London Rowing Club crew pushed on through and won the race, and it was two for two for London.

Thames RC First VIII (Photo: © Iain Weir)

Last to go down the course were, of course, the first eights. The London Rowing Club plan was to absorb the Middlesex advantage that Thames had off the start, and LRC delivered the relentless rhythm needed to ensure this plan worked. Both crews stormed out the starting blocks at rates in the high forties, each wanting to get the lead straight away and maintain it all the way through the race. Thames had the early lead, due to the bend in their favour, but the umpire repeatedly warned the Thames cox to move over to the Middlesex station–in fact, the umpire started making these calls quite early, halfway between Chiswick Bridge and Barnes Bridge. Then, under Barnes Bridge, the umpire had had enough and disqualified Thames, much to the disgust of the Thames cox. The five seat of the Thames crew, to cap off this disastrous disqualification, caught a monster of a crab, captured on film by Ian Weir.

TRC called for steering under Barnes Bridge (Photo: © Iain Weir)

After the race, I spoke with Hannah Watkins (the Thames RC cox), who expressed that she felt that the umpire should have given her more time to react to his calls and that, as the race only stopped at Barnes Bridge, it could easily have been re-started. She felt that the decision was a harsh one and argued that the race being abandoned was not at all beneficial to either crew. In any case, Bourguignon of London Rowing Club, clearly delighted, was eager to start the celebrations, but didn’t dare walk into the opposing club where, later on, LRC were to receive the 2012 Boustead Cup.

-Theo Bakker

All images copyright Iain Weir. See more of Iain's photography (and look for more race photos as the 2012 season kicks into full swing) at www.rowingphotography.co.uk, and his personal website, www.iainweir.info.

Video of the Week: Winter Training with the German Men's Eight

The 2012 C.R.A.S.H.-B. Sprints took place yesterday in Boston, with a number of international rowers turning in podium-topping performances. So, indeed, what better time than now to talk about the erg? The German men's eight has a series of videos entitled, Deutschlandachter: Unser Weg Nach London (Our Journey to London) on the Rudern TV YouTube Channel, and the most recent chapter (embedded above), covers some aspects of winter training. It helps to know a bit of German, but the video is interesting from a purely rowing perspective as well, allowing a rare glimpse at splits during a steady state workout, and showing the consistent technical approach that characterizes this generation of German rowing (with upright posture at the release, and a relaxed rotation out of bow followed by a uniform slide–stylistically it looks quite similar to that of the new-look Australian men's four).

Want to suggest the next 'Video of the Week?' Shoot us an email at rowingrelated [at] gmail [dot] com, send us your suggestion via Twitter (twitter.com/rowingrelated), or get in touch via our Facebook page.

Also, in case you missed it–coverage from Boston of the 2012 World Indoor Rowing Championships has been posted to the official site of Rowing News, with links to full results.

-RR

From the Press Room at RR: Huskies Add Home Race Against Brown To 2012 Schedule

Source: Press Release/Jeremy Cothran
The Bears, one of the top crews in the Ivy League, will face the Huskies on March 31 on the Montlake Cut

SEATTLE – Two of rowing’s most historic programs will meet this spring in the Pacific Northwest when Brown University travels west to take on Washington.

The rare intersectional matchup will take place on March 31 on the Montlake Cut at 8 a.m. Brown is one of the top teams in the tradition-rich Ivy League Conference, and is a regular fixture at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) Championship Regatta in June.

What makes the dual race intriguing is how rare it is to see one of the East Coast powerhouses travel to Seattle. But that was the challenge men’s crew coach Michael Callahan sought to overcome when he invited the Bears.

The contract with Brown calls for the Huskies to return the trip next season to the East Coast.
“This is a great opportunity for our student-athletes,” Callahan said. “We’re always looking to enhance their experience and having them race against one of the top rowing programs in the nation fulfills that goal.”

Brown will send five boats from Providence to Seattle: a varsity eight, second varsity eight, third varsity eight, fourth varsity eight and its top freshmen eight.

There are plenty of ties between the two programs as well. Freshmen coach Luke McGee is an alumnus of Brown (Class of 2001) and later coached the Bears freshmen until 2007 when he made the move out west.

“It is going to be exciting to see my alma mater, and the program that gave me my start in coaching, racing on the Montlake Cut,” McGee said. “I know the Brown program well and I am sure that all of their boats will be well trained and will race with a lot of intensity.”

Conversely, Brown coach Paul Cooke started his career in the Emerald City with Green Lake Crew, which is a city-wide rowing program for high school students.

Brown won Ivy League championships in 2008 and 2009, and has reached the Grand Final in the varsity eight at IRAs in each of the past three seasons.

The two programs have been a part of some memorable races against one another. McGee’s final race at Brown – the freshmen 8 Grand Final at IRAs in 2007 – was highlighted by a come-from-behind win over Washington, which at the time were coached by Callahan. In 2010, the Huskies 2V8+ won gold at IRAs with a furious sprint in the final 200 meters to overtake the Bears.

The dual against Brown will be held in conjunction with the Husky Open, which features several UW boats competing against one another on the Montlake Cut.

Winter Training: 'CanaDawgs' Getting it Done Indoors

The above video, posted yesterday, shows the the Washington Huskies in action on land during a winter training session not unlike the one I visited three weeks ago–look for a write up, including an interview with men's coaches Michael Callahan and Luke McGee in Rowing News issue 19-2–with line upon line of ergs, and the intensity building throughout as each rower works toward a personal best and a team goal. (Looking at the personnel, it appears that this video was shot last season, as 2011 Pan Am Champ Ty Otto is seated next to Hans Struzyna near the middle of the first or second row–see 2:28-2:41–and Anthony Jacob is present as well.) Just recently, the 'Dawgs' visited the Canadian national team for a training camp, covering 100km in just two days at Shawnigan Lake. The relationship between the Huskies and the Canadian national team is quite a strong one at the moment, with several former Huskies are training with the Canadian men's eight–Will Crothers, Rob Gibson, and Conlin McCabe (McCabe is, in fact, still a Husky, but taking the year off to train for London). In addition to these three, Dave Calder (Beijing silver medalist in the men's pair, with partner and Cal alum Scott Frandsen–somehow they manage to get along) and Anthony Jacob are also training with the Canadian squad.

Given this level of crossover, it is impossible not to notice the similarity between the above video, and the one below, posted to YouTube by Will Crothers last year:



The field in the men's eight is going to be very strong in London. With rumors swirling about Team GB's lineups and priorities, as well as shifting going on in the Australian squad as Duncan Free and either Fergus Pragnell or Will Lockwood will push two of last year's bronze medalists in the prioritized M4- into the M8+ (an eight that was perhaps one bad stroke from third place last season), not to mention the dominant German 'Achter' and what we feel will likely be a strong U.S. entry, the race for the podium in London will be an intense one. While glimpses of work and training session details might seem to many like insider information, not to be shared, as Canada's Kevin Light said in a Rowing News interview (referencing his film, The Spracklen Philosophy) not long ago:

I had no hesitation showing by means of video or photography the intensity of work or the quality of rowing from inside our training camp. I believe every successful rower and every successful coach knows that you need to train hard to win. There is no magic formula revealed in this video, and I don't think showing people from other countries that we trained hard to achieve what we did will make it any easier to do. In some cases it may make it even harder to do.

-RR

Video of the Week: Princeton Tigers Tampa Training Camp, Part 2

This week's video is the second half of Princeton's winter training camp in Tampa, complete with fashion shows and marauding pirates. In my book, anytime you can manage a recurring pirate theme in a training video, you've achieved something worthwhile. The video kicks off with a recap of Part 1 (you can watch Part 1 here), followed by a 'dramatic' recitation of what begins as a fragment of Invisible Wings, by Barbara Wagner (not entirely sure where it goes from there). Along the 'lighter' side of things, there is a healthy amount of footage from sessions on the water, with coaches Marty Crotty, Paul Rassam, Lori Dauphiny and Greg Hughes. Add to the above a mustache competition between the members of the light and heavyweight men, and you've got a recipe for success.

Want to suggest the next 'Video of the Week?' Shoot us an email at rowingrelated [at] gmail [dot] com, send us your suggestion via Twitter (twitter.com/rowingrelated), or get in touch via our Facebook page.

-RR